A Harbinger of Swing to Come - Movements I & II

Story

A Harbinger of Swing to Come – Movements I and II: This piece is an adaptation of a big band composition that was commissioned by the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra for their 10th anniversary.

Movement I: At the time I was writing the piece, I was experimenting with multi-meter rhythms; if you were to read the score you would see that every bar at the start of the piece has a different time signature. If you listen very carefully you can also hear that Quincy is playing the melody in his introduction to the piece. In order to make the transition to the swinging melody in the middle, I had to bring out my math skills!

Movement I and II are connected by a short solo sax cadenza.

Movement II: One of my favourite jazz composers is ex-pat Canadian, Kenny Wheeler, who also happens to be a close friend of Don Thompson’s. In this piece I tried to capture the flavour of Kenny’s gorgeous composition Gentle Piece, which I adore. The piece begins and ends with a reference to this, in the middle giving way to an energetic samba which just seemed to naturally grow out of the initial melody.